NVIDIA SHIELD headed to movie theaters in August for gamer one-on-one time

If you're itching to get your hands on NVIDIA's SHIELD handheld gaming device and you happen to live near certain locations on the west and east coast, you'll have an opportunity to try it for yourself throughout August. The company is offering the public a chance to play with SHIELD at select theaters on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in New York and San Francisco.

The initiative is taking place in what is called the SHIELD Movie Theater Experience Centers, which are what appear to be booths set up in select movie theaters with NVIDIA representatives and SHIELD devices. Those who visit will be given a chance to play the device and ask whatever questions they might have. As NVIDIA says, "There’s no substitute for a good, old-fashioned test drive."

The hands-on events will take place in four different locations, two in the New York area and the other two in California. For those on the east coast, you'll be able to head over to the Garden State 16 on Garden Plaza in New Jersey or the New Roc Stadium 18 in New Rochelle, New York. And if you're on the west coast, you can go to either Cupertino 16 in Cupertino, Cali, or to Mercado 20 in Santa Clara.

The Experience Centers will only be up on the weekends (including Friday), so schedule accordingly. What can you expect when you see the device? A 5-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, as well as two joysticks and a directional pad, YBAX buttons, menu buttons, and a menu full of games optimized for the device.

There's a microSD slot that can take up to 64GB cards, as well as a mini HDMI port for output to a 1080p display. There's also a microUSB port for connecting with a computer. You can get an in-depth look at the device in our unboxing, and check out some videos of game demonstrations and such in the Project SHIELD tag portal.